Translation system

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure provides a translation system enabling a translation of a web page by an alteration of a website. The translation system comprises: a translation request receiving unit for receiving a translation request from a client device, the translation request including the URL of a web page in which text in a first language is displayed; a translating unit for translating the text in the first language included in the web page indicated by the URL into text in a second language by referring to a bilingual database storing words and phrases in the first language associated with words and phrases in the second language constituting translated words and phrases of the words and phrases in the first language; and a translation sending unit for sending the translated text in the second language to the client device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The disclosure claims the benefits of priority to PCT Application NumberPCT/JP2016/061028, filed on Apr. 4, 2016, which is incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a translation system.

BACKGROUND

Websites published on the internet can be accessed by computers anywherein the world. However, the web pages constituting a website operated ina foreign country are often created in a language other than the nativelanguage of that country. These web pages are translated in order toprovide easy access to the website.

However, in these types of configurations a separate translating systemhas to be provided for each website to be translated, and it issometimes difficult to apply this system to small-scale websites due tocost factors.

SUMMARY

It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a translationsystem that is able to translate a web page by a simple alteration of awebsite.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a translation systemcomprises: a translation request receiving unit for receiving atranslation request from a client device, the translation requestincluding a URL of a web page in which text in a first language isdisplayed; a translating unit for translating the text in the firstlanguage included in the web page indicated by the URL into text in asecond language by referring to a bilingual database storing words andphrases in the first language associated with words and phrases in thesecond language constituting translated words and phrases of the wordsand phrases in the first language; and a translation sending unit forsending the translated text in the second language to the client device.

In the present disclosure, “unit” refers not only to a physical meansbut also to the implementation of the function of the “unit” usingsoftware. The functions of a single “unit” or device may be implementedby two or more physical means or devices, or the functions of two ormore “units” and devices may be realized by a single physical means ordevice.

The present disclosure provides a translation system enabling atranslation of a web page by an alteration of a website.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of the informationprocessing system in a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram summarizing the library method in the firstembodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram summarizing the script method in the firstembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of thetranslation system 30 in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a bilingualdatabase 220.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of translation processing inthe first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram summarizing the library method in a secondembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of thetranslation system 30 in the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of translation processing inthe second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram summarizing the library method in a thirdembodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of thetranslation system 30 in the third embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a synonymdatabase 1000.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a scoredatabase 1010.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of translation processing inthe third embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examplesof which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The followingdescription refers to the accompanying drawings in which the samenumbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elementsunless otherwise represented. The implementations set forth in thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments do not represent allimplementations consistent with the invention. Instead, they are merelyexamples of apparatuses and methods consistent with aspects related tothe invention as recited in the appended claims.

The following is an explanation of a first embodiment of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of theinformation processing system in the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing systemincludes websites 10, user terminals 20, and a translation system 30.The websites 10, user terminals 20, and translation system 30 areconnected via a network (such as the internet) to enable communication.

The websites 10 provide web pages to the user terminals 20 and areequipped with computers such as web servers, database servers, andapplication servers. One or more computers may be used for each website10. The websites 10 can provide web pages to user terminals 20 based onrequests from user terminals 20. By using the translation system 30, thewebsites 10 can provide translated pages to user terminals 20.

A user terminal 20 is a computer used by a user to access a website 10.The user terminal 20 can be, for example, a personal computer, tablet,or smartphone. The user can access a website 10 by operating a browserinstalled on the user terminal 20.

The translation system 30 provides a web page translation service towebsites 10. The translation system 30 includes one or more computers. Atranslation system 30 is not provided for each website 10 but is sharedwith the plural websites 10.

The following is an explanation of a translation method for web pagesusing a translation system 30. In the present embodiment, as examples ofthe translation method, two types of translation methods areillustrated, namely, the “library method” and the “script method.”

FIG. 2 is a diagram summarizing the library method in the firstembodiment. In the library method, a library 200 for utilizing thetranslation system 30 is incorporated into a website 10. The user inputsa URL (Universal Resource Locator) indicating a web page of the targetwebsite 10 in the browser 210 on the user terminal 20. As a result, anHTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) request is sent to the website 10from the user terminal 20 (S200).

When the website 10 receives an HTTP request from a user terminal 20,the website 10 sends a translation request to translate the firstlanguage text (for example, Japanese) included in the web pagesindicated by the URL into the second language text (for example,English) (S210). The following is an example of the format of thistranslation request.

url: http://website.com, src: ja, dst: en

-   where “url: http://website.com” is the URL of the web page to be    translated, “src: ja” is the translation source language code, and    “dst: en” is the translation target language code. In the case that    the translation target language is fixed, a translation target    language code may be omitted. In the case that the source language    can be determined by analysing the web page, a translation source    language code may be omitted.

After receiving a translation request from a website 10 (client device),the translation system 30 obtains the first language text to betranslated on the web page to be translated based on the URL included inthe translation request. For example, the text in the first language tobe translated is the text included in the body of the web page(<BODY>˜</BODY>). The translation system 30 acquires translated texttranslated from the first language text into the second language text byreferring to a bilingual database (DB) 220 (S220). The bilingualdatabase 220 stores words and phrases in the first language and wordsand phrases in the second language, which are translated words andphrases of the words and phrases in the first language, by associatingthem with each other. Then, the translation system 30 sends thetranslated text to the website 10 (S230). The following is an example ofthe format of the translated text sent to the website 10.

src: Kon'nichiwa, dst: Hello, xpath:/body/p/text( )

-   where “src: Kon'nichiwa” represents the translation source text in    the first language, “dst: Hello” represents the translation target    text in the second language, and “xpath:/body/p/text( )” represents    the code for identifying the location of the text to be translated    on the web page.

The website 10 converts the first language text on the web page into thesecond language text received from the translation system 30 and sendsan HTTP response to the user terminal 20 (S240). As a result, atranslated web page is displayed in the browser 210 on the user terminal20.

FIG. 3 is a diagram summarizing the script method in the firstembodiment. In the script method, the script for utilizing thetranslation system 30 is embedded in a web page. The user inputs a URLin the browser 210 on the user terminal 20 indicating a web page of thetarget website 10. As a result, an HTTP request is sent to the website10 from the user terminal 20 (S300).

After receiving an HTTP request from a user terminal 20, the website 10sends an HTTP response to the user terminal 20 for displaying the webpage indicated by the URL (S310). As a result, a web page including thetranslation source text in the first language is displayed in thebrowser 210 on the user terminal 20. And, the script is embedded in theweb page for utilizing the translation system 30. This script isexecuted by the browser 210 and a translation request is sent from theuser terminal 20 to the translation system 30. The format of thetranslation request is the same as the one in the library method.

Similar to the library method, the translation system 30 acquirestranslated text translated from the first language text into the secondlanguage text by referring to the bilingual database (DB) 220 based onthe URL included in the translation request received from the userterminal (client device) (S330). Then, the translation system 30 sendsthe translated text to the user terminal 20 (S340). The format of thetranslated text sent to the user terminals 20 is the same as the formatof the translated text sent to the websites 10 in the library method.

On the user terminal 20, the first language text on the web page isconverted into the second language text received from the translationsystem 30 by the script executed in the browser 210. As a result, atranslated web page is displayed in the browser 210 on the user terminal20.

The following is an explanation of a configuration using the librarymethod. This configuration can also be implemented using the scriptmethod according to some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of thetranslation system 30 in the first embodiment. The translation system 30includes a translation request receiving unit 400, a translating unit410, and a translation sending unit 420. Each unit can be implemented,for example, by executing a program stored in a memory through aprocessor in a computer including the memory and the processor.

The translation request receiving unit 400 receives a translationrequest including the URL of a web page displaying the first languagetext from a website 10 (client device). As explained above, thetranslation request contains a language code for the first language,which is the translation source language, and a language code for thesecond language, which is the translation target language, in additionto the URL.

The translating unit 410 translates the first language text on the webpage indicated by the URL included in the translation request into thesecond language text by referring to the bilingual database 220. FIG. 5is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a bilingual database220. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the bilingual database 220 includestranslation source language codes, translation source words and phrases,translation target language codes, translation target words and phrases,and URLs. URLs are provided to customize translations for each website.For example, in the example shown in FIG. 5, “kon'nichiwa” is translatedto “hello” at http://website.com. In another case, the translation canbe registered such that “kon'nichiwa” is translated to “hi” athttp://another.com. In other words, the translating unit 410 can obtaina translation according to the URL included in the translation requestfrom the bilingual database 220.

The translation sending unit 420 sends the second language texttranslated by the translating unit 410 to the website 10 (clientdevice).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of translation processing inthe first embodiment. First, the browser 210 in the user terminal 20sends an HTTP request for displaying a web page in the first language tothe website 10 (S600).

The website 10 receives the HTTP request from the user terminal 20(S601). Then, the website 10 sends a translation request for translatingthe first language on the web page into a second language, to thetranslation system 30 (S602).

The translation request receiving unit 400 in the translation system 30receives the translation request from the website 10 (S603). Based onthis translation request, the translating unit 410 in the translationsystem 30 translates the first language text on the web page into thesecond language text (S604). Then, the translation sending unit 420 inthe translation system 30 sends the translated text to the website 10(S605).

The website 10 receives the translated text from the translation system30 (S606). The website 10 converts the first language text on the webpage into the second language text then sends the HTTP response to theuser terminal 20 (S607).

The browser 210 in the user terminal 20 receives the HTTP response fromthe website 10 (S608). As a result, the web page translated into thesecond language is displayed on the browser 210 (S609).

According to the first embodiment above, it is possible to translatevarious websites by making the modification, such as incorporating thelibrary or embedding the script.

Also, it is possible to customize translations for each website byproviding items specifying the websites in a bilingual database 220.

The following is an explanation of a second embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The description about common parts with the first embodimentis omitted. The similar elements with those in the first embodiment aremarked with reference numerals and the description thereof will beomitted.

FIG. 7 is a diagram summarizing the library method in the secondembodiment. The process from the HTTP request (S200) to the HTTPresponse (S240) is the same as the process in the first embodiment (FIG.2). In the second embodiment, the script for monitoring untranslatedtext is embedded in a web page. For example, in a web page whose contentis updated dynamically, it is possible that untranslated text exists inthe web page displayed on a browser 210. When untranslated text isdetected by the script, the untranslated first language text is sent tothe translation system 30 (S700). Then, the translation system 30updates the bilingual database 220 based on this report (S710).

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of the translation system30 in the second embodiment. In addition to the configuration shown inFIG. 4, this translation system 30 includes the untranslated textreceiving unit 800 and the translation updating unit 810.

The untranslated text receiving unit 800 receives untranslated firstlanguage text included in the web page from the user terminal 20displaying the web page translated into the second language.

The translation updating unit 810 associates first language words orphrases corresponding to the untranslated text with second languagewords or phrases, which are translated words or phrases of the firstlanguage words or phrases, and registers the association in thebilingual database 220.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of translation processing inthe second embodiment. The process from step S600 to step S609 is thesame as the process in the first embodiment (FIG. 6).

In the user terminal 20, the script for searching untranslated text inthe web page is executed on the browser. Then, when the untranslatedtext is detected (S900), the untranslated first language text is sentfrom the user terminal 20 to the translation system 30 (S901).

The untranslated text receiving unit 800 in the translation system 30receives the untranslated first language text from the user terminal 20(S902). The translation updating unit 810 in the translation system 30registers the translation corresponding to the untranslated text to thebilingual database 220 (S903).

According to the second embodiment above, it is possible to enhance thetranslation quality by adding a translation of untranslated text to thebilingual database 220.

The following is an explanation of a third embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The description about common parts with the first embodimentis omitted. The similar elements with those in the first embodiment areindicated with reference numerals and the description thereof will beomitted.

FIG. 10 is a diagram summarizing the library method in the thirdembodiment. In the third embodiment, the translation system 30 acquirestranslated text based on the bilingual database 220 (S220), and selectsa synonym from a plurality of second language synonyms (for example,“buy” and “purchase”) corresponding to a first language word (forexample, “kōnyū”) (S1000) by referring to a synonym database (DB) 1000.The synonym can be selected, for example, based on a score stored in ascore database (DB) 1010. The translation system 30 sends the translatedtext including the selected synonym to the website 10 (S230).

In the third embodiment, the script for monitoring the user behavior isembedded in a web page. For example, the user behavior may includeclicks on the web page, time spent on the web page, and exit from theweb page. The user behavior information detected by the script is sentfrom the user terminal 20 to the translation system 30 (S1010). Thetranslation system 30 updates the score related to the user behaviorbased on this behavior information (S1020).

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of thetranslation system 30 in the third embodiment. In addition to theconfiguration shown in FIG. 4, this translation system 30 comprises thesynonym selecting unit 1100 and the score updating unit 1110.

The synonym selecting unit 1100 implements a part of functions of thetranslating unit 410. The synonym selecting unit 1100 refers to thesynonym database 1000, and selects a first synonym (for example, “buy”)for one translation request (the first translation request) and a secondsynonym (for example, “purchase”) for another translation request (thesecond translation request) as the translation for a first word includedin the first language text (for example, “kōnyū”). The translating unit410 sends the translated text using the selected synonym to the website10. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of asynonym database 1000. In the example shown in FIG. 12, the synonymdatabase 1000 includes translation source words and phrases, translationdestination language codes, and synonyms. For example, two synonyms,“buy” and “purchase” are registered as translations for “kōnyū” Further,two synonyms “login” and “sign in” are registered as translations for“roguin.” The number of synonyms is not limited to two, and there may bethree or more synonyms.

For example, synonyms can be selected by the synonym selecting unit 1100based on scores stored in a score database 1010. FIG. 13 is a diagramshowing an example of the structure of a score database 1010. In theexample shown in FIG. 13, the score database 1010 includes words andphrases, view counts, numbers of clicks, duration of stays, and exitrates. “View counts” means the number of times a web page containing acertain word or phrase is displayed. “Number of clicks” means the numberof times a click operation is performed on a web page (or the number oftimes a button displayed on the word or phrase is clicked). “Duration ofstay” means the amount of time a user remains on a web page, and “exitrate” means the rate at which a user moves on to another web page orcloses the browser without performing a certain operation on the webpage (such as clicking a button).

The synonym selecting unit 1100 can determine the score for each word orphrase based on one or more items in the score database 1010. Whensending translated text for a web page to a website 10, the synonymselecting unit 1100 tentatively determines a synonym having the highestscore as the best translation and selects the synonym at a high ratewhile using the remaining proportion to measure the effectiveness ofeach synonym. For example, in the case of “buy,” “purchase,” and “add tocart” are registered as synonyms for translation of “kōnyū” and thescore of “buy” is the highest, “buy” will be selected at a high rate(for example, 95% of the time). In order to measure the effectiveness ofeach of the three synonyms “buy,” “purchase,” and “add to cart”, each ofthe synonyms is selected, for example, one-third of the time in theremaining proportion (for example, 5%).

According to some embodiments, the synonym selecting unit 1100 may notneed to select a second language synonym for all words and phrasesincluded in the first language text on the web page. For example, thesynonym selecting unit 1100 can select second language synonyms forwords and phrases displayed in a specific location on the web page (suchas on a button) or for specific words and phrases that have an impact onthe users behavior (for example, “kōnyū”).

The score updating unit 1110 receives user behavior information on a webpage from user terminals 20 displaying the web page translated into thesecond language, and updates the score database 1010 storing the scoresfor each second language synonym based on the behavior information.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of translation processing inthe third embodiment. The description about common parts with theflowchart shown in FIG. 6 is omitted.

The translation request receiving unit 400 in the translation system 30receives a translation request from a website 10 (S603). The translatingunit 410 in the translation system 30 translates the first language texton a web page into the second language text based on the translationrequest (S604). Then, the synonym selecting unit 1100 selects synonymsfor words or phrases that are set to be objects for synonym selectionincluded in the first language text based on the scores stored in thescore database 1010 (S1400). The translation sending unit 420 in thetranslation system 30 sends the translated text including the selectedsynonyms to the website 10 (S605). The translation sending unit 420 canoutput information indicating that synonyms were selected by the synonymselecting unit 1100 for effectiveness measurement together with thetranslated text. This information is included in the HTTP response tothe user terminal 20.

In the user terminal 20, the script for monitoring the user behavior isexecuted in the browser (S1401). Then, user behavior information is sentfrom the user terminal 20 to the translation system 36 (S1402).According to some embodiments, monitoring of the user behavior by theuser terminal 20 may be performed only when a synonym is selected forthe effectiveness measurement.

The score updating unit 1110 in the translation system 30 receives userbehavior information from the user terminal 20 (S1403). Then, the scoreupdating unit 1110 updates the score stored in the score database 1010(S1404) based on the user behavior information.

According to the third embodiment above, it is possible to analyse userbehavior for each synonym. For example, by analysing the user behavior,it is possible to select a translation that leads a user to make atargeted action (for example, behavior to purchase a product).

The present embodiments are for illustrative purposes about the presentdisclosure, and are not intended to limit to specific embodiments. Thepresent disclosure can be modified and improved without departing fromits purpose, and equivalents thereof are also included in the presentdisclosure.

1-7. (canceled)
 8. A computer-readable non-transitory recording mediumcomprising a translation program for causing a computer to implement: atranslation request receiving unit for receiving, from a web server or auser terminal, a translation request including a URL (Universal ResourceLocater) of a web page displaying text in a first language; atranslating unit for translating the text in the first language includedin the web page indicated by the URL into text in a second language byreferring to a bilingual database storing words and phrases in the firstlanguage associated with words and phrases in the second languageconstituting translated words and phrases of the words and phrases inthe first language; a translation sending unit for sending thetranslated text in the second language to the web server or the userterminal; and a score updating unit for updating a score databasestoring a score for each synonym in the second language, wherein: thetranslating unit is configured to select a first synonym for a firsttranslation request among translation requests and to select a secondsynonym for a second translation request among the translation requestsas a translation for a first word or phrase included in the text in thefirst language, by referring to a synonym database storing synonyms ofwords and phrases in the second language; and the score updating unit isconfigured to: receive, from a first user terminal on which a first webpage including the first synonym is displayed based on the firsttranslation request, first behavior information indicating user behavioron the first web page, and receive, from a second user terminal on whicha second web page including the second synonym is displayed based on thesecond translation request, second behavior information indicating userbehavior on the second web page, and update the score database based onthe first behavior information and the second behavior information. 9.The computer-readable non-transitory recording medium according to claim8, wherein: the score for the first synonym is higher than the score forthe second synonym; and a rate at which the first synonym is selected ishigher than a rate at which the second synonym is selected.
 10. Thecomputer-readable non-transitory recording medium according to claim 8,wherein: the translation request includes a language code indicating atranslation target language; and the translating unit is configured totranslate the text in the first language into the text in the secondlanguage indicated by the language code.
 11. The computer-readablenon-transitory recording medium according to claim 8, wherein: thebilingual database includes URLs as items associating words and phrasesin the first language with words and phrases in the second language andthe translating unit is configured to translate the text in the firstlanguage into the text in the second language based on the words andphrases in the first language and the words and phrases in the secondlanguage corresponding to the URL included in the translation request.12. A translation method comprising: receiving a translation requestfrom a web server or a user terminal, the translation request includinga URL of a web page in which text in a first language is displayed;translating the text in the first language included in the web pageindicated by the URL into text in a second language by referring to abilingual database storing words and phrases in the first languageassociated with words and phrases in the second language constitutingtranslated words and phrases of the words and phrases in the firstlanguage; sending the translated text in the second language to the webserver or the user terminal; and updating a score database storing ascore for each synonym in the second language, wherein: the translatingincludes selecting a first synonym for a first translation request amongtranslation requests and selecting a second synonym for a secondtranslation request among the translation requests as a translation fora first word or phrase included in the text in the first language, byreferring to a synonym database storing synonyms of words and phrases inthe second language; and the updating score database includes:receiving, from a first user terminal on which a first web pageincluding the first synonym is displayed based on the first translationrequest, first behavior information indicating user behavior on thefirst web page, and receiving, from a second user terminal on which asecond web page including the second synonym is displayed based on thesecond translation request, second behavior information indicating userbehavior on the second web page, and updating the score database basedon the first behavior information and the second behavior information.